A judge on Friday put a stop to Douglas County School District’s voucher program — at least for now — leaving hundreds of students who had enrolled in private schools scrambling for alternatives as the new school year is about to begin.

In a 68-page decision, Denver District Judge Michael A. Martinez issued a permanent injunction of the Douglas County district’s pilot Choice Scholarship Program.

In June, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and other Douglas County residents filed a lawsuit against the district. In it, they said the voucher program violates the state constitution because taxpayer money was going to private and religious schools.

The group asked for an injunction to halt the program until the broader legal questions are settled.

“The prospect of having millions of dollars of public school funding diverted to private schools, many of which are religious and lie outside of the Douglas County School District, creates a sufficient basis to establish standing for taxpayers seeking to ensure lawful spending of these funds,” Martinez wrote in his ruling.

The lawsuit was filed in Denver because the State Board of Education and the Colorado Department of Education, both located in the city, are co-defendants in the suit.

Douglas County school officials said they will comply with the judge’s ruling as they continue to fight the issue in court.

“The court’s ruling today limits the opportunity for Douglas County parents to determine the best school fit for their children,” school board president John Carson said. “This ruling is not what the people of Douglas County wanted or what we know is in the best interest of our students.”

304 enrolled in pilot

The ACLU issued a statement Friday, applauding Martinez’s ruling.

“The court correctly recognized that it is unconstitutional for the state to underwrite a child’s religious education,” said Mark Silverstein, legal director for the ACLU of Colorado. “Families who wish to send their children to a private school may do so, but not with government funds that may only be used to provide a free public education for Colorado’s children.”

The Douglas County school board voted in March to become the state’s first school district to implement a voucher system. The pilot program allows up to 500 students already enrolled in Douglas County schools to receive up to $4,575 toward tuition at a private school.

As of Friday, 304 students were enrolled in private schools using the Douglas County stipend. Payments had been distributed on behalf of 265 of them totalling more than $300,000. District spokesman Randy Barber said the installments were to be made in four payments.

He did not know whether the district would be reimbursed for students who decide to switch from private schools back to the school district.

And what happens next is anyone’s guess.

Parents of students enrolled in private schools now will have to decide whether they want to shoulder the private- school tuition on their own. Or they could put their kids back into the Douglas County school system or home-school.

For parents like Diana Oakley, Friday’s news was devastating. Her 13-year-old son, Nathan, has Asperger’s syndrome, an autism-spectrum disorder.

She enrolled her son at Humanex Academy, a private school she said can meet her son’s needs. During a hearing last week in Martinez’s courtroom, she said she would likely have to home-school Nathan if the voucher program were stopped, because the family can’t afford the school’s $17,000 tuition.

But on the phone Friday, she said she and Nathan are showing up to Humanex Academy for the first day of class Monday — regardless of the judge’s ruling.

“This is the most horrible thing ever,” a frantic Oakley said, before later calming down. “But we will prevail in this.”

Helping students in flux

Douglas County School District said it would work with parents and students enrolled in private schools to resolve issues related to tuition already paid to private schools, and to find students seats in public schools.

Lynne Butler, a parent of three children who attend Douglas County schools and a member of Taxpayers for Public Education, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the district, said it would have been wrong to divert tax money to private, religious schools.

“For every child who leaves our public schools, money is lost,” Butler said. “The school board needs to be focused on how to fix our public schools in order to meet the needs of all students.”

Carlos Illescas had been with The Denver Post since 1997 before leaving in June 2016. He had worked as a reporter covering the suburbs and was a weekend editor. He previously worked for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Aspen Daily News and graduated from Colorado State University in 1991.

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